The Bystander
by DNACat
Summary: You may expect a story of action and adventure. But Ava's life is anything but that. Instead, she is a bystander of history. Witness her friendships, rivalries, house-feuds and love-life all the while history if writing itself around her.


**Note: There will be custom spells.**

 **2** **nd** **Note: There will be Irish and British Slang and spelling.**

 **3** **rd** **Note: Please enjoy :)**

 **Chapter One:**

A tall, hawk-nosed woman kissed a preteen on the head, pulling her in for what seemed to be a last hug. The girl groaned and pushed the woman away, " _Mooom_ ," She crossed her arms, cheeks flushing a bright red. The mother smiled and hugged her daughter once more. "Be good, okay?"

"I will," The girl whispered, losing all her grouchiness. As she hugged her mother she looked over the crowds, hoping to see a handsome golden-haired man approach them, but as she saw nothing she frowned. The mother spotted this and kneeled down, "Ava, know your father is proud of you," She whispered to her, so no other citizen could hear, "he loves both of us dearly, and I've received letters upon letters of how he wanted to be here." She pulled her daughter in close for another hug and whispered, "he said he'd try to write every week, and if not, every month."

The girl nodded slowly, holding her mother close before pulling away. She gave a small smile before turning. She glanced around, grabbed her trolley when the coast was clear and raced for the wall that had the sign, '9' on it.

She prepared for the worst – impact, injuries, judgemental looks – but instead she heard a quick, 'whoosh', of air and she broke out onto a busy-platform. She looked around in amazement, eyes wide. " _Finally!_ " She looked up at a sign that read, '9 ¾' and beamed in delight, " _I got to platform nine and three quarters!_ "

Her cat had screeched and her messenger owl had hooted in distress, but now both were calm and were examining the environment. Her cat was now purring slightly, at the sight of other magical cats. Her owl was eyeing gruffer-looking cats warily but was content on looking around and hooting at curious young children.

She began to make her way towards a man in a long, black robe with a black top-hat on. "Um, excuse me," She whispered meekly. The man looked down at her, a friendly smile on his face. "Do you know where I drop off my luggage?"

"Yes, my dear." He pointed in the direction of where two older-looking teens stood, shouting commands and picking up suitcases and animal cages, "just over there. My boy and his friend will help you," He gently patted her shoulder awkwardly, but he seemed not to notice her discomfort, "if you have any other questions, just ask my son."

She nodded and began to walk up to the two teenagers. She timidly let out a squeak for them to notice her, and the broad-shouldered – and Ava admitted, handsomer one – boy smiled at her, "New here?" He gently took her cats little box and her owls cage and placed them beside their preferred species, "it's okay. Just leave your trolley here with your name, and we'll sort everything from there. You just walk past and up onto the train, okay?" He handed her a small slip of paper with a pen, before turning to a snooty-looking boy who was viscously pushing to be next.

Ava looked at the note. It read 'Name:' and 'Age:'. She shakily wrote in the desired details and placed them atop her luggage. She gulped and set off ahead, seeing some other teens with their parents. Her heart panged for her mother's keen grip or her father's deep and soothing voice. Yet her mother had a meeting with a possible boss and then had a meet-up with a friend right after. And her father? He seemed always to be at work.

She trembled as she walked towards an open train carriage and looked around. There was a small line for this carriage, so she shyly joined it. She looked around, looking for another kid who might possibly be on their own. The same snooty-boy who had been pushing had managed to squeeze in to the top of the line, and she curled her lips at this.

However, other things on her mind excused this petty thing, and she continued to wait patiently – and nervously – for the line to board the train. She gulped as a white blew and the lines, one by one, began to board the train. Another line only two carriages away boarded, and as soon as every one of them had boarded, the next line boarded.

Soon her line was boarding, and she thought she would pass out as she got onto the train.

She made her way down the halls of the carriage and opened a little compartment and sat down. She looked out the window, seeing mother's, father's and siblings all waving at their respective family-members, and she sighed. She looked away, feeling another pang for her mother, father and her little brother.

She flinched and shook the memories of Christmas' and Halloween's gone by. She looked as other students fluttered by, not stopping to ask for a seat.

Oddly, she wished they would stop and ask.

The lines began to die, and she gave up hope of having a compartment buddy, but eventually the snooty-boy and a proud-looking girl entered the carriage. "Are these seats taken?" The proud-girl asked politely, though the snooty-boy had already taken a seat.

"No," Ava replied timidly. The girl smiled and sat down beside her, resting her hands on the table and conjoining them. The boy stared at the window, not paying Ava any attention. The girl smiled at Ava before turning away and taking out a book that read, 'Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them'.

Ava looked at the book curiously, but looked away quickly. As the train chugged out of the station and out into the countryside, the three sat quietly, not saying a word to each-other. Ava gulped as the boy looked over at her and he finally asked, "So? Who are you?"

"Ava, Ava Carpenter." She replied, trying to sound confident, "and you?"

"Thomas, Thomas Dane." He said, before flicking a hand to the girl, "this is my twin-sister, Evelyn."

Ava nodded to 'Evelyn' who nodded back and continued to read. "She's a bit of a nerd," Thomas snorted at his sisters disgruntled face, "has nearly read every book back at our library at home." He looked to Ava, seeking approval of the fact his family was obviously rich.

Evelyn put down her book, "Oh, _come on_ Thomas. Really? Going to take out fifty pounds and shake them at her face?" Evelyn growled, though there was still a look of playfulness in her eyes.

Ava shrugged it off, looking down at the floor and murmuring, "It's fine."

Evelyn looked over at her, cocking an eyebrow, "Really?"

Thomas' eyes were wide. He was obviously used to be sought-out for by women for his obvious banks full of money.

"Really?" He repeated his sister's words as fields of cows and sheep zipped by.

"Yes, really." Ava wanted to hiss out the words, but kept her tone polite and calm, "why? Did you expect me to be all over you?"

Thomas whispered a, "Yes." But turned away and took out his wand, beginning to examine it.

Ava noticed it was a fine wand. It was a pure oak-wand, and had a shiny metal object jutting out of it slightly. It looked like it was a cat's claw, but she doubted they sold those kinds of wands. She guessed it was a salamander's claw, and his wand was about seven and one-quarter long.

Her wand? It was a holly and a proud nine inches long. It had a dragon's tongue as it's core. It was janky at times, but worked great when it wasn't tossed around.

"What are you staring at?" Thomas snapped at her, and she looked away from the wand and turned to Evelyn.

"So . . ."

"What house do you want to get into?" Evelyn asked, as they heard the rattling of an old cart and teens laughing.

"Well my dad was Ravenclaw and my mom was Gryffindor, so either of those will make me happy," Ava smiled as she heard tales of how her mother and father met.

" _It was a very rainy day out, and I had managed to find a nice dry area to read my books and study for the upcoming N.E.W.T's." Her mother had told her, as she smiled softly, "I heard men laughing and decided to stay quieter. Those voices were only recognizable as the Ravenclaw's who were infamous for being smart, yes, but also being some dirty-minded flirts." She sighed and shook her head, "so I studied but eventually they found me. One of them began to flirt with me, and when I tried to move, one of them pinned me up against the tree. He let me go, and laughed, but continued to flirt, looking me up and down."_

" _He laughed at one of his friend's comments and kissed me on the cheek. I lashed out, slapping him across the face. Of course, he became infuriated and screamed at me very nasty words that you should never say. He pinned me up against the tree, and yelled at me that I was a, 'dirty thing,' and a, 'slut' – excuse my language, dearest – and said I wasn't good at anything."_

" _He kissed me on the cheek again to rub it in, and beat me across the face. Luckily for me, a teacher was walking by as this happened. She took twenty points from Ravenclaw, which amounted to a staggering a hundred points – their other house-mates earned them back – and they dashed off before anything worse could happen. The teacher told me to wait there while she went off to get the nurse, and I sat, weeping as the rain pattered around me."_

" _That's when your father appeared. He was handsome, and – unlike most Ravenclaws – didn't have any glasses. He spotted me crying and walked up, asking what had happened. I told him what had happened and he cursed them, swearing a bit before sitting down beside me. He introduced himself, 'James' and I introduced myself as, 'Sophie'. He told me no one with such a pretty name deserved to be called a slut, and he talked to me about the N.E. and other things. I found myself falling in love with him, and he found himself falling in love with me. We were friends for a long time, but the day he got his job in the ministry he asked me to be his 'lover'." Her mother had chuckled and said, "The nerdier side of him came out and said he didn't like saying, 'girlfriend' and said he much preferred lover. So we became a couple, and when he reached the higher positions in his job he finally asked me to marry him, after three years of being together. We were married for a wonderful four years," She gently touched Ava's nose, "and so we had you."_

Ava was snapped back to reality as Evelyn said, "Well, my dad was Slytherin and my mother was a Ravenclaw too." She sighed as she titled her head back, "My father isn't very liked in my mother's side of the family, but they put up with him so long as he doesn't hurt us." She looked over at Ava, her eyes alive with fear, "but he's nice, and he isn't as bad as they make Slytherin seem, I swear."

"It's fine," Ava gently shook Evelyn's shoulders, "not all Slytherins are bad."

Evelyn looked up and smiled at Ava, "thanks. I told another girl about my father's house and she screamed that I was a whore and ran away." Ava heard Evelyn murmur, "the bitch," but chose to ignore it.

"Excuse me?" A snobby-voice came from the entrance to the compartment and Ava looked up to see a mousey-haired girl. She had glasses, a thin and pointy nose and a smirk on her face. "Is this dumpster of a seat taken?"

"Pardon me." Thomas almost shouted at her, his eyes burning with fury.

The girl chose to ignore Thomas and looked at Evelyn, "Oh look! The Death-eater." She sneered at her, eyes narrowed sourly, "look guys!" Two boys and another girl ran to her side, sticking their tongues out, "a you-know-who supporter!"

Ava stood up too now, her fists balled. The girl looked her up and down and said, "I doubt _you're_ a Slytherin. You're Sophie's kid, right? Why are you hanging out with _Slytherins._ " The girl spat out the word like a sour sweet, and glared at the two twins.

"Just because their father heils from Slytherin does not mean he or they," She indicated to Evelyn and Thomas, "are bad people!" She defended her friends, eyebrows furrowed together.

"But we all know Slytherin are bad. You-know-who came from there! And all the death-eaters were from Slytherin!" One of the girl's little posse-members giggled cruelly.

"So is Albus Potter, son of _Harry Potter_ , evil? Is his friend, who helped him save the wizarding-world of England, evil?!" Ava roared at them, taking a step forward again, fists ready to go, "Is _SEVERUS SNAPE_ evil?" She screeched and the quintet took a step backwards. Ava smirked as they scurried off, ducking into another compartment.

She took her seat politely, and rested her head back as she heard the food carriage rattle closer. Evelyn smiled at her to show appreciation, and opened her mouth to say something but was stopped by, "Food trolley!"

Thomas eagerly turned his eyes and took out a bag of coins. He removed fifteen galleons and placed them on the side, "all the chocolate frogs that'll get me, and whatever these two ladies would like." He was oddly polite, despite trying to wave his money in Ava's face a couple of minutes ago.

"Hmm . . ." Ava paused before saying, "two packets of every flavoured beans please." The woman nodded as she finished shoving half of her contents of chocolate frogs onto Thomas' lap and handed two packets of beans to Ava.

"A jumbo pack of Walkers, salt and vinegear." Evelyn murmured, blushing at her odd choice in food. The food-trolley lady cocked an eyebrow put handed her the large packet of crisps and wheeling onto the next compartment. "Really? _Walkers._ " Thomas laughed at his sister, beginning to munch away on the chocolate-frogs.

"Yes, _Walkers._ " Evelyn flushed bright red as she continued to munch down the packet of crisps. Ava chuckled as the two siblings fought, holding up a blue jelly bean, tapping it with her wand and whispering, "Cangio." The bean glowed a rotten-blue colour and then changed to a peppermint blue. Ava smiled and ate it, finding it to taste strongly of peppermint.

She looked at the box and searched for the blue jelly-bean and found it read for the foul version, 'Dirty Tissues'. She felt relieved she hadn't gotten _that_ flavour. She got up when she saw people flooding by with black robes and got her own – which was stored under her seat – and left to change.

When she got back, Evelyn was also changed, and Thomas was waiting to get changed. He left as soon as Ava entered, and she sat down in her usual spot and finishing her jellybeans.

"When do you think we'll be there?" Ava asked Evelyn, who pointed out the window at the silhouette of a castle.

"Soon."

 **This is my first Harry Potter Fanfic (not really, but we don't talk about the other story I deleted) and I'm glad I finally got around to it :) I hope you enjoyed it, whoever is reading this :)**

 **Thank you for reading :)**


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